Comparison of direct coronary stenting with and without balloon predilatation in patients with stable angina pectoris

This is a critical abstract of an economic evaluation that meets the criteria for inclusion on NHS EED. Each abstract contains a brief summary of the methods, the results and conclusions followed by a detailed critical assessment on the reliability of the study and the conclusions drawn. The approach of direct stent implantation using stent deployment without predilatation (DS+) proved to be a safe and effective procedure for patients undergoing coronary angioplasty because of stable angina. The costs were significantly lower than those observed in patients treated using the standard stent implantation procedure based on balloon catheter (DS-).